


All the Stars

by Mybrainisthickerthanmyass



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Atuat (mentioned), Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Rise of Kyoshi, Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Shadow of Kyoshi, F/F, Fox (mentioned) - Freeform, Happy Ending, Hei-Ran (mentioned), I'm so bad at tagging leave me alone, Jinpa (mentioned), Koulin (mentioned), Kyoshi Novels, Post-Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Shadow of Kyoshi, Rangshi - Freeform, Rangshi makes me soft, TW for blood, also there’s a poorly written poem, chapter 3 gets angsty, let Rangi say fuck, soft angst, yes Hei-Ran and Atuat live together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:13:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27381751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mybrainisthickerthanmyass/pseuds/Mybrainisthickerthanmyass
Summary: One year after The Shadow of Kyoshi takes place, Rangi and Kyoshi decide to vacation in Sei'Naka for the Festival of Szeto.
Relationships: Kyoshi & Rangi (Avatar), Kyoshi/Rangi (Avatar)
Comments: 58
Kudos: 204





	1. Gloves

“Kyoshi, you can’t wear your armor around during the festival.”

“Why not? You let me wear it last year,” Kyoshi rebutted weakly as she handed her bracers over, knowing that arguing with Rangi would be a losing battle.

“Last year,” Rangi placed the bracers back into the wardrobe, “you were meeting the Firelord. Right now, we are in a much more casual setting. Besides, you’d stick out like a purple hogmonkey in a group of flying lemurs. Do you really want people asking you questions about being the Avatar? Or,” Rangi turned back to Kyoshi, placing her hands on her hips and lowering her voice, “would you rather have fun with me?”

Kyoshi did a poor job suppressing the dorky grin spreading across her face. “I’d definitely rather have fun with you.”

“Good,” the firebender removed herself from her girlfriend and turned back to the closet, pulling out a large maroon robe and pushing it into Kyoshi’s chest. “Put this on.”

Rangi side stepped Kyoshi, taking her own dusty-rose-colored robe with her to change. Kyoshi’s brows furrowed, but she began undressing without a comment. 

“I don’t understand why you couldn’t at least give me gloves. Or longer sleeves,” Kyoshi complained, walking beside her girlfriend, wringing her hands as if she were attempting to wipe away the pale, jagged scars creeping up from her fingertips to her forearms like ivy. Rangi pried one of her hands away from the other to grasp it in her own, much smaller hands.

“You don’t need to cover them up here, we talked about this. Nearly everyone in Sei’Naka has scars.” Rangi nodded towards a heavy-set man with a large, gnarly scar running across his right cheek on full display. The scar mattered little as his whole face lit up in a warm grin; he gently handed an orange to a curious child with outstretched arms.

Kyoshi was reminded of Kelsang, who was a large, intimidating man at first glance but was one of the kindest people she knew. Or used to know. “He’s not hiding his scar.” Rangi’s voice brought Kyoshi out of her thoughts. “But if it really bothers you,” Rangi looked up at her face to gauge her expression, “we can go to a leatherworker and have some made for you, there’s one not far from here. There are also some seamstresses nearby if you’d rather have cloth ones.”

She slowed her pace to wait for an answer. “Uh, I don’t have any cloth gloves, so I guess we can check those out,” Kyoshi suggested. Destination in mind, Rangi laced her fingers with Kyoshi’s and began to navigate familiar streets. 

Her warm grasp led Kyoshi through the ribbons of cloth covering the entrance of the small, well-lit shop. The walls were the color of unfired red clay—of course they were, the Fire Nation did love their red after all—but they were almost entirely concealed by cloths of so many colors and textures and patterns that it was almost overwhelming. An older woman sitting in the back-right corner stopped sewing to look up at them and smile.

“Rangi! It’s been a while since I’ve seen you here, are you home for the holidays?” the woman stood up, she was short and round, and wobbled slightly as she walked.

“It’s nice to see you again, Madam Rina,” Rangi bowed her head slightly in respect. “Yes, I am home for the Festival. This is my friend, Kyoshi, she’s from the Earth Kingdom, and we were looking to get her some new gloves.” Rangi stepped aside so that she was no longer between Madam Rina and Kyoshi.

“You’re very tall for a woman,” Madam Rina grabbed Kyoshi’s hands to inspect them, “and such large hands to match. You know, someone is going to think that you are the Avatar, I heard that she is frighteningly tall. Although she has beautiful porcelain skin and is always in a green dress, so you likely won’t be mistaken for her.”

_Is that really what people think of me?_ Kyoshi glanced at Rangi. Despite her efforts, she knew that concern was layered on her face thicker than the makeup she wished she had on to cover her expression. Rangi’s own expression shifted to an almost imperceptible frown.

“It would be my pleasure to make gloves for a friend of Rangi’s. Feel free to pick out some fabrics, Dear, while I take some measurements from your friend here.” Rangi nodded and made a beeline for a white lace that had caught her eye when they had walked in.

Madam Rina led Kyoshi to the back of the shop and gestured for her to sit down on a round, plum-colored cushion on the floor. Kyoshi did so quickly and with little grace, earning a stern glance from the shopkeeper that she was too caught up in the snide comments to notice. The short woman pulled a long, leather strip with black lines on it out of her apron and laid it along the back of Kyoshi’s hand. “The markings on your hands are in such interesting patterns, what could cause something like this?” Madam Rina then wrapped the leather strip around Kyoshi’s knuckles, apparently having made a mental note of the other measurement.

“Oh uh,” Kyoshi hesitated, debating on whether to tell her the truth. “I uh, got hit with lightning,” she concluded lamely, deciding that the scarring was too unique to entirely lie about.

“What? How does something like that happen? Were you holding metal out in a storm?” Kyoshi just nodded rather than attempting to explain. Madam Rina shook her head and chuckled in response. “You Earth Kingdom folks are such characters; figured it was common knowledge not to do something as dimwitted as that.”

Kyoshi looked down to hide the hurt look on her face from the jab at her culture. A now alarmingly hot hand touched her own and she turned to look at Rangi, who wore a smile so large and deceivingly sweet that when combined with the hardened, sharp look in her eyes (directed like daggers at Madam Rina), it spelled out a threat that only Kyoshi seemed to understand.

Rangi practically shoved the fabrics at Madam Rina, “Here are a few patterns and colors I chose.” The venom in her voice was well masked, but it set Kyoshi’s nerves on edge.

“White lace? With her dark skin? Rangi dear, I thought I had taught you better than that,” Madam Rina draped the cloth over Kyoshi’s right hand to see how it looked.

“I like it,” Kyoshi muttered.

Madam Rina looked Kyoshi in the eyes for the first time since she walked into the shop with genuine shock. “You’ve probably never even touched lace before, how would you know?” She squinted at Kyoshi, “And is that dirt on your face?” Madam Rina almost pointed directly at Kyoshi’s cheek, but ended up gesturing to her own face out of ingrained decorum.

Kyoshi cocked an eyebrow and looked at Rangi, “Is there dirt on my face?” she asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

“No.” Rangi stated shortly. She looked ready to combust; and as a firebender, it was a likely possibility. “We’ll take the white lace gloves please. How much will it be?”

“For you dear? Just a silver piece. I still believe it’s a poor choice, but they should be ready in two hours. You girls go have fun; they should be lighting the lanterns soon.”

Rangi handed Madam Rina a silver coin with her painfully large grin before she dragged Kyoshi’s swiftly out of the shop. The speed at which Rangi took off combined with long limbs left Kyoshi stumbling awkwardly behind the shorter girl the whole way out. She wanted to ask Rangi what was wrong, but she did not want to set off an explosion in the middle of the street. Passerby’s took note of Rangi’s obvious fuming and hurried to put some distance between them.

Kyoshi made her attempt at moving to a safer spot for the coming conversation, reading the clear signs of Rangi’s fuse burning short. “Rangi, could we—”

Before Kyoshi could finish, Rangi pulled her into an abandon alley between two buildings. “Why do you let people say things like that to you, Kyoshi?” Rangi’s voice was barely above a raspy whisper, but that made it no less intense than an erupting volcano. “You shouldn’t let people talk down to you like that. If I were you, I would have challenged her to an Agni Kai. Spirits, I almost did it for you and it’s forbidden during the Festival! Or you could’ve told her that—” Rangi looked to the side to make sure no one was nearby and lowered her voice even further, “that you’re the Avatar.” She pressed a finger against Kyoshi’s chest like a branding iron, tapping it against her to emphasize everything she said as if she were trying to highlight the words flowing from her like ink from a pen. Clearly Rangi wanted the ink to stain. “I know you wanted to try to blend in for the duration of the Festival of Szeto as a vacation, but come on, at least demand the respect you deserve! I can’t stand to watch people belittle someone who means so much to me.”

Rangi took a deep breath in and let out a sigh, the warmth of her breath washed over Kyoshi as the weight of the last thing Rangi said sunk deeper into her mind. Of course Rangi was upset: by insulting Kyoshi, Madam Rina had been insulting Rangi’s choice in friends, and unintentionally, her choice in partner. The Avatar decided in that moment that she would try to stand up for herself more. For Rangi’s sake.

“I’m sorry,” Kyoshi started, ready to tell the firebender she would work on sticking up for herself.

_“No,”_ Rangi said firmly. Kyoshi started to worry. Had she done something wrong? Maybe she had hit a breaking point. _What a stupid thing to break up over,_ she thought. _I could’ve prevented this so easily. I’m just not enough for her. She deserves someone with stronger will and someone more honorable than me._

“Kyoshi.” _Here it comes. She’s going to break up with me, here, in an alley, on the first day of the Festival._ “Please don’t cry.” She hadn’t even noticed she was crying, but now that Rangi mentioned it, she blinked and felt the tears cling to her lashes and cloud her vision as if she were looking through a poorly made glass bottle. The shorter girl reached up and brushed away the tears staining Kyoshi’s cheeks, tracing her fingers across freckled skin then resting them on her shoulder. “You should never apologize for something like that. I’m the one who should apologize,” Rangi sighed. “I didn’t mean to yell at you. That woman just, she just rubs me the wrong way. And I took my anger out on you.” Rangi ran her hands down Kyoshi’s arms until she had her hands, a reassurance. “I’m sorry,” Rangi placed a kiss on the second knuckles of Kyoshi’s left hand.

“You don’t have to apologize for being yourself. Sometimes its nice to be yelled at,” Kyoshi smiled at Rangi.

“Oh?” Rangi smirked and raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend.

“Not like that—well, yes like that,” Kyoshi huffed a nervous laugh, “but I meant, sometimes its nice to be reminded that I need to stick up for myself. I’ll try to work on it.”

“And I’ll be here to help you do so. As well as work on controlling my anger.”

“I just need your attitude to rub off on me,” Kyoshi jested.

Rangi nudged Kyoshi back towards the street, “Oh so you think I have an attitude?”

“I didn’t mean—”

“Relax, I’m just teasing.”

“You seem to do that a lot.”


	2. Don't Hide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of chapter 1 with a slight time skip (its just evening now)

As the last drops of sunlight dissolved into the ocean, Rangi pulled Kyoshi up to a popup stand. Dozens of wood and cloth stands lined the streets for the festival, all sporting varying shades of red banners and beautifully patterned lanterns. The Firebender had dragged Kyoshi to this specific one without so much as a glance at the others. It was a food vendor, as were most of the temporary shops that had been set up for the festival, but as soon as they pushed their way through the traffic of people Kyoshi saw why this one was special.

“Stalknose mushrooms please,” Rangi stated without hesitation. She turned to look up at the taller girl, “What do you want?”

Skewers of mushrooms were roasting over glowing red coals, dotted with spices, and emitting an enticing aroma. The Avatar looked over at her girlfriend, her porcelain face glowed in the crimson light from the lanterns and her brilliant bronze eyes shimmered from the fire of a torch flickering nearby. She was her sun, and suddenly Kyoshi was starstruck by her beauty, it was times like this where she wondered if Rangi wasn’t actually human, but a celestial wonder that descended to grace her life with light. She felt a soft squeeze to her left hand, encased in intricate white lace, which reminded Kyoshi that she had been asked a question.

Kyoshi panicked, she hadn’t even looked at the options and honestly, she didn’t know enough about Fire Nation festival food to identify anything she could see. “I’ll have the same thing,” she barely spared a glance at the lanky man who was preparing their food.

She was hoping that the slight crack in her voice went unnoticed, but the knowing smirk on the man’s face before he turned around told her otherwise. Kyoshi felt her face heat up as she looked down at the wood counter of the stand, hoping that the sanguine light pouring from the lanterns would drown out her blush of embarrassment.

A gentle pressure on Kyoshi’s arm made her turn her head. Rangi was resting her head on Kyoshi’s sleeve, probably sensing her girlfriend’s growing anxiety since she seemed to know her Avatar better than Kyoshi knew herself. The sweet gesture comforted her, and she felt some of the tension leave shoulders. She felt the familiar urge to turn and plant a kiss to her Firebender’s scalp, but Rangi’s hairpin flashed gold like a warning sign, reminding her that she wasn’t supposed to in public, especially in the Fire Nation. She settled for leaning into the shorter girl and running her lace-clad thumb over the back of Rangi’s.

The shopkeeper handed each of them their skewers of stalknose mushrooms as Rangi handed him a couple coins. They exchanged thanks with the man and the pair were swept away into the stream of people.

“How about here?” Kyoshi gestured to a worn, wooden table with three empty seats.

“I have a better place in mind,” Rangi lead her girlfriend further along the packed dirt road, moving with the crowd. She managed to pull Kyoshi into an empty alleyway with practiced ease. Kyoshi recognized the alley from earlier that day, although she had had no idea that they were this close to Madam Rina’s shop until just now. Navigation wasn’t her strong suit, although it was definitely one of Rangi’s. But honestly, what was her little star not good at? _Cooking._ Kyoshi thought. The only thing Rangi seemed to struggle with is making food that wasn’t either dry and flavorless, or spicy enough to burn a hole through your esophagus.

Kyoshi glanced down at her Firebender. “Wow. A dark alley. With no seats. How romantic,” her voice was so saturated with sarcasm that Rangi had rolled her eyes at her before she even finished talking.

“Just trust me. And follow me.”

Rangi let go of her girlfriend’s hand and Kyoshi couldn’t help but frown a bit at the loss. Kyoshi watched as Rangi stepped back, then started forward in a half-skip-half-leap sort of movement, her heels sparking as they hit the ground, and then bursting with small flames as they didn’t touch the dirt at all on the next step. Rangi rose up higher, stepping on tiny suns of her own creation which illuminated the alleyway in small bursts of light until she turned right and disappeared onto a rooftop. Kyoshi stared at the spot where her girl had disappeared, slightly breathless, as she often was whenever Rangi jet-stepped.

The silhouette of Rangi’s head with its signature topknot appeared over the edge of the roof to look down at the dumbstruck Avatar. She snapped her fingers to spark a small flame between them to help illuminate her face. Kyoshi knew the snapping was just for show, much like the way Rangi held her hand so that her index finger and thumb created a heart for the flame to dance above, but the gesture tugged at her heartstrings nonetheless. “Well?” Rangi raised an eyebrow at the currently earthbound Earthbender.

Kyoshi pulled one of her fans from where they were concealed under the cloth tied around her waist and dust-stepped up to join Rangi. Although her bending had greatly improved over the last two years, a little aid while walking on literal dust, especially with food in one hand, was greatly appreciated.

The tiles of the roof were surprisingly clean, and Rangi was already sitting cross-legged when Kyoshi landed. She carefully stepped over to join her girlfriend, who started eating the second Kyoshi’s robes touched the red ceramic.

Kyoshi turned her attention away from her girlfriend to look out over the city. Behind them, past the edges of the city, was an uninhabited elevation of mostly rough terrain that was poor for farming, but the flat tops of cliffs were lush with greenery. Stretching around them, streets glowed like rivers of lava between the buildings. Crimson lanterns lined the eaves of every roof and open flames danced orange and gold from torches and grills. The north and east beaches could be seen from their vantage point, the water almost as dark as the black sand shores, save for the portions where small parties had made bonfires and the waves glittered with reflected firelight.

Buildings stretched towards the night sky, the nearly full moon and billions of twinkling stars doing a poor job of illuminating the rooftops compared to the burning festivities underneath them. The roof they sat on had a conveniently less steep slope than most of the buildings around, and Kyoshi guessed that this wasn’t the first time Rangi had been up here. She could almost picture Rangi, her face younger and rounder and her hair shorter and even more of it resisting the effort to put it into a topknot, sneaking onto the rooftop for some alone time up here. Perhaps to study. That seemed like a very Rangi thing to do.

“Hey, you need to eat,” Rangi said softly. The quiet in her voice caught Kyoshi’s attention. She looked to the Firebender, who had already finished her food. Music thrummed through the city, its bouncing beat was muffled slightly by distance, so Kyoshi heard Rangi perfectly clearly. It was like they were in their own little bubble on top of the world.

“I am eating,” Kyoshi said meekly, right before taking her first bite. Rangi raised an eyebrow at her.

“I used to come up here when I was a kid.” Rangi sighed, breaking the brief moment of silence. “Although I used a ladder to climb up. It’s not like I knew what jet-stepping was back then, although it definitely would’ve made my job much easier,” Rangi set her empty skewer down on the roof next to.

“You worked up here?” Kyoshi hadn’t taken another bite since her first one. She sat holding the skewer between her hands, fingers laced, and the end of the skewer resting on her lap. It wasn’t that the mushrooms were bad, in fact they were fantastic—she could definitely tell why they are Rangi’s favorite. She was just not that hungry, and honestly too captivated by her Firebender to really think about eating.

“No, stupid,” Rangi reached out and nudged Kyoshi’s gloved hands towards her face, wordlessly signaling her to take a bite, and not one to refuse her girlfriend, Kyoshi obliged. “I just meant that it would be less of a hassle to get up here. I used to have to climb the ladder as fast as possible and then pull it up behind me. You should’ve seen the speed at which I could scale the old wooden thing,” Rangi chuckled, but Kyoshi just frowned.

Kyoshi swallowed the bite of mushroom before asking, “Why did you have to do that? Was it a part of training? Or…” she trailed off, not wanting to assume something worse.

“I guess you could call it training,” Rangi huffed. She still smiled, but the smile was a mask more than anything, and sorrow creeped out through the cracks. “The girls at the academy were brutal. I used to hide up here, but one of the brats caught me climbing up once.” Rangi looked down at her own hands. “Have you ever been pushed off a roof? That’s a stupid question. It’s not fun. I broke my arm and dislocated my shoulder; I broke or fractured couple ribs too but I can’t remember the details. My mom had to pay quite a lot of money to get a Waterbender healer to come and fix me up.” Rangi turned her face away, but Kyoshi could still see the way her brows scrunched and jaw tightened.

“Your mom was the headmistress, wasn’t she? Did she have the girls expelled for that?” Kyoshi asked, the skewer of mushrooms left forgotten in her hands.

“Of course not. I didn’t tell my mom I had been pushed. That would’ve made me seem weak. I just lied and said I fell. I never heard the end of it after that. Do you remember Koulin?” Kyoshi nodded in response before realizing Rangi wasn’t looking at her. Rangi continued anyway, “She was the bitch that pushed me.”

Kyoshi glanced down and was reminded of the mushrooms she had barely touched. She gingerly placed a hand on Rangi’s shoulder so that she would look up at her and lifted her skewer to offer it to Rangi. The Firebender took the skewer of mostly uneaten mushrooms from her, realizing Kyoshi wasn’t planning on eating anymore, and started to eat them herself. Often times when Rangi was stressed, Kyoshi would cook for her girlfriend. It always seemed to cheer her up, especially if they got a moment to share the meal together. She hoped that the mushrooms were comforting to her flame now.

Kyoshi watched Rangi eat with a vigor that bordered on performative; she seemed determined to focus on consuming the spiced mushrooms before they cooled down any further. She was beginning to understand Rangi’s hesitation in sharing her past: rage burned through her veins at the thought of Rangi in pain. Koulin deserved to receive consequences for her actions, not to get away scot-free.

“I wish I could—”

“ _Don’t,_ Kyoshi. It’s in the past,” Rangi said between mouthfuls.

“That doesn’t make it right!”

“It doesn’t, but neither does fighting the brat for something that happened years ago.” Rangi put down the empty skewer next to hers and Kyoshi took her hands in her own.

“Hey,” Kyoshi’s voice was barely above a whisper and sweet like steam rising from melted sugar. “Look at me please.”

Rangi sniffled and finally turned to face Kyoshi. Her eyes glinted, the stray light from stars above betraying her tears. Worry was plastered on the Earthbender’s face like a poster to a wall. “I’m sorry fo—”

Kyoshi cut her off, “Please don’t apologize.” Rangi opened her mouth to argue but stopped herself. “I’m glad that you feel safe enough to trust me with this information.”

“Of course, you big dummy,” a small, tearful smile cracked on Rangi’s face. “I trust you with my life.”

“A poor choice really— _hey!_ ” Kyoshi rubbed her arm where Rangi had playfully punched her, taken over by a fit of mirth as Rangi snorted and wiped tears from her cheeks. “But really, thank you for confiding in me.”

Rangi took Kyoshi’s hands in her own. “Thank you for not making fun of me,” she whispered, looking at their joined hands. She began tracing the lace pattern of Kyoshi’s gloves with her fingertips.

Kyoshi kissed the top of Rangi’s head. “I would never make fun of you,” she paused before smugly addressing her, _“Topknot.”_

“You little—” Rangi lunged at Kyoshi, pinning her unsuspecting girlfriend to the cool ceramic rooftiles. Kyoshi chuckled and pushed back, using her size and strength to reverse their positions. She didn’t have Rangi pinned for long before the military-trained woman flipped them once again, effectively securing her girlfriend down with her arms and legs this time.

“Don’t call me Topknot, _Rock Bottom,_ ” Rangi’s deep raspy whisper made Kyoshi’s laughter cease, and a large, crooked grin spread across her face. Rangi let out a hot, heavy breath that Kyoshi suspected had nothing to do with their little scuffle.

“Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?” Kyoshi raised her head closer to Rangi’s face and lowered her voice, “Topkn—” Kyoshi’s face scrunched up in pain, “Ow! Shit!”

“What happened? Did I hurt you? Kyoshi, I’m so sorry—” Rangi practically leapt off of the taller woman, dread quickly replacing the joyful smile that had been there moments before.

“It’s alright, I think its just,” Kyoshi hissed through her teeth as she pulled a skewer out from her side. It had punctured her skin just below her ribs, although luckily it did not go further in. “Ah, yknow,” Kyoshi sat up, still holding the skewer, “I probably deserved that,” Kyoshi gave a nervous laugh and smiled weakly in an attempt to play the injury off.

Rangi fumed. “ _Deserved_ that? Kyoshi, what _the fuck_ makes you think you deserve to be stabbed in the side?” Kyoshi looked down at her hands and set the skewer aside. “I’m so stupid for—”

“No. _You’re_ not stupid” the Avatar stated softly but firmly. If Rangi heard her rebuttal, she chose not to acknowledge it.

“I shouldn’t have set those down there, I should have noticed they were a safety hazard! I ignored my responsibility and let my guard down and you could’ve been killed if it went any deeper!” Rangi stopped pacing and turned her attention back to Kyoshi. “Wait, where did it stab you?”

“Rangi.”

“Cough into your hand and let me see. I need to make sure it didn’t puncture your lung,” but before Kyoshi could even do that, Rangi started to pace again.

“Rangi.”

“We need to get you to Atuat, your wound could get infected! Oh, mother is going to kill me...”

“Rangi!” As agile as Rangi was, pacing on top of a slanted, tiled roof in distress caused her to lose her footing. Kyoshi lunged forward, grabbing Rangi by the wrist with one hand and the waist with the other, balancing her on the edge of the rooftop for a brief second before yanking her back to safety. Rangi collapsed on top of the taller woman, and Kyoshi wrapped in a tight embrace, panting heavily, two hearts beating rapidly together.

“Rangi, please. You’re not stupid. We were just having fun. And I’m fine, it’s just a little prick. I’ve been through worse. We’ll go to a healer and we don’t need to tell Hei-Ran about it if it will make you feel better. You were lecturing me, but you could’ve fallen just now, and I just…” Kyoshi took a deep breath. “I can’t bear to see you hurt again,” she whispered.

Rangi mumbled something into Kyoshi’s chest that she couldn’t quite make out, but it sounded like “you’re right.” Kyoshi loosened her grip on her girlfriend and sat up. “What?”

“I said, you’re squeezing me to hard,” Rangi playfully squinted at Kyoshi playfully. “But also, you’re right. I’m overexaggerating—”

“No, you’re just concerned, and I appreciate that you are. I’ll be okay though; everything will be okay. Now can we please get off the roof?”

“Of course, although now that I think about it, that basically involves jumping off,” Rangi lifted herself off of Kyoshi and stood to peer over the edge.

“Or,” Kyoshi stepped up beside her, “I could do this.” She raised a pillar of earth from the ground up to where they were standing. Kyoshi stepped onto it and reached a hand out to her girlfriend, who took it and stepped onto the platform, nestling perfectly into the Earthbender’s arms, back pressed against her chest. The pillar descended until the pair were left standing in the alleyway, Kyoshi’s long limbs wrapped around Rangi.

Kyoshi let go so that Rangi could fix her hair as they walked towards the bright, busy street. Rangi paused under the eaves of the building, and the taller woman draped her arms over her girlfriend’s shoulders from behind. The scarlet lanterns hanging above them made the Firebender’s hair glow like hot embers. Rangi looked up, past the lanterns, past the eaves of the roof, and up at the sky. She rested her hands on Kyoshi’s arms and the Avatar looked up at the sky too, trying to see what had caught her attention.

“The stars are very bright tonight, even the lanterns can’t blot them out,” Rangi said with a quiet voice. Kyoshi hummed in agreement. “If I could, I’d hand you all the stars in the sky.”

“Why would I want all the stars in the sky when I could have you, my star here on the ground, all to myself?” Kyoshi asked the rhetorical question, still looking up. She felt Rangi’s head shift a bit but could tell she was still looking up. Maybe at her. “You are worth more to me than all the stars, and you brighten my life more than anything else ever could. You are all that I need.”

Kyoshi tightened her arms around Rangi, and Rangi squeezed her arms closer to her. She wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, it felt like hours, time slowed and nothing else mattered, even as people walked by in front of them. Yet somehow, when Rangi broke away, it felt like she hadn’t been holding her long enough.

“Alright,” Rangi started, patting Kyoshi’s arm, but stopped when looked down and saw her gloves. “Aw, honey your gloves!”

“Hmm?” Kyoshi was too caught up on the word “honey” to really pay attention to what she was concerned about. Rangi took her hands in her own and raised them to her girlfriend’s face. The white lace was stained with dirt and blood, and even torn in some places. “Oh,” was all Kyoshi could think to say.

“Here, let me,” Rangi carefully started to take Kyoshi’s gloves off. “I know you don’t like it, but you don’t have to hide. Your hands are beautiful. And I was missing your touch anyway,” Rangi trailed off, getting quieter to where Kyoshi could barely hear the end of the sentence.

Rangi stuffed the gloves into the cloth around Kyoshi’s waist alongside her fans, and then grabbed Kyoshi’s hand and nuzzled her face into it. She hummed slightly, and then laced their fingers together.

“Come on,” she turned to start walking, “I’m sure Atuat is out at her favorite bar, and even if she’s intoxicated, she’s still a top-notch healer.”

“It’s really not that bad—you know I’m technically a healer too, right?” Kyoshi followed Rangi through the crowd.

“Yeah, I know, but when you do it, it always leaves scars. Although if Atuat is too drunk, it might actually be better if you do it. It would also be less likely for my mother to find out that way…”

“So, let’s go back to your house. They’re probably out for the night anyway, and if not, Atuat can heal me.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.”


	3. Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rangi bandages Kyoshi's wound

Rangi lead Kyoshi through the front gate of Hei-Ran and Atuat’s siheyuan and into the center courtyard. Yingyong was notably absent from the open space, so Kyoshi assumed that Jinpa had taken him out. He did mention that he was meeting up with some guy, a nonbender who crafted instruments. She couldn’t quite remember his name, something with a K. . . 

“Sit,” Rangi gestured to a polished mahogany bench in the courtyard. 

“I really don’t need to —” the Avatar started sheepishly. 

Rangi whipped around and glared at her, “Kyoshi, you’re hurt. Sit down before I —”

Kyoshi sat so quickly she momentarily worried for the integrity of the wood joinery. Fortunately, this was Sei’Naka; the most skilled craftsmen were foraged here, and their honor would not permit them to craft subpar products.

The Firebender smiled a little, pleased that she didn’t have to finish her likely empty threat. She quickly walked into the side building where she and Kyoshi were staying and returned with a small clay cup filled with water. “Drink up.” She waited until Kyoshi took a sip. “Good girl. Now, stay there, I’ll go see if Atuat is here and get some more water.”

“You just got me water though,” Kyoshi teased, lifting the cup for emphasis.

“To heal your side, love. You should loosen your clothes so we can access the wound better.” Rangi turned and walked toward the main building. “And that cup better be empty when I get back,” she called behind her as she ducked inside, closing the door behind her.

The sound of the festivities gave way to the quiet of the household, and only the faint rhythm of music remained. The celebration had swept the citizens out of their homes and to the shops and beaches near the outskirts of town. The few red lanterns that Atuat convinced Hei-Ran to hang up swayed gently along the edges of the roofs, their gentle light too dim to outshine the stars as much as they did in the city. 

Kyoshi looked down at the rippling reflection of the moon in her cup of water. She sighed and placed the cup down on bench to her left, scooting closer to it so that she was taking up as little room as she could. She fished her gloves and fans out of the cloth tie around her waist and laid them neatly next to the cup, trying to smooth out the tattered lace as much as possible.

Rangi’s muffled voice reached her as she called out for her mothers. There was a tone of urgency in her voice, and Kyoshi knew her girlfriend was worried. She untied her waist cloth, inspecting the dark stain now marring it. Blood and dirt painted the fabric like poorly ground ink spilling onto a fine scroll. _You always ruin beautiful things,_ she thought as she ran her thumb over it. _Your clothes, the clay turtle, the gloves._ She pulled her thumb away and stared at the sanguine swirling patterns made by the blood filling the grooves of her fingertip. She folded the cloth and laid it on the remaining space of the table. _Everyone you touch gets hurt._ Tears welled up in her eyes. _Yun, Kelsang, Lek, Hei-Ran, Rangi,_ she opened her robes with shaky hands, wincing as bloodstained fabric peeled away from the wound in her side. _Yourself_. 

She blinked back her tears and tried to look at her side. It was hard for her to see, but the wound was actually a lot worse than she originally thought. The skewer hadn’t just punctured her skin, but it had moved around and tore her flesh, creating an angry jagged wound on her right side. A fresh streak of crimson started to run down her side, now unhindered by cloth. 

“Shit.” Kyoshi mumbled; a fresh jolt of panic weighed her stomach down like she had swallowed rocks. She bent the water from her cup and used it to wash her wound. She closed her eyes, faint blue light dancing on her eyelids as she tried to heal herself up a bit. _Just so it doesn’t look as bad. So that when Rangi sees it, she won’t be as worried._ The Avatar lightly stomped her foot to bend a hole in the dirt and hastily bent the blood-tainted water into it. With a wave of her hand, she manipulated the earth to bury the evidence.

“No one is home, not even Fox. Jinpa must’ve taken them out with him, probably to impress that guy.” Rangi’s sudden reappearance made Kyoshi tense in surprise, and she felt a trickle of blood run down her side. The Firebender set a large bowl of water and a rag down on the bench to Kyoshi’s right and placed a stool in front of them. “I truly don’t understand the appeal of men, I— what’s that look for?” Rangi interrupted herself, her eyebrows furrowed as she made eye contact. 

“I … don’t know what you mean,” Kyoshi could feel the guilty look on her face but couldn’t seem to make it go away. The diplomatic duties that came with being the avatar clearly did not help her Pai Sho face. Probably a good thing that she didn’t play. Rangi snatched the clay cup off the bench and inspected it. Finding it empty, she placed the cup back down but narrowed her eyes at Kyoshi. The Avatar offered a lopsided, sheepish grin in return.

“Well,” the Firebender huffed, moving on from the matter for now, “it looks like you’re going to need to heal yourself. Let me clean it first, though.” Rangi pulled up the stool to better access Kyoshi’s right side.

“I can clean it with waterbending—” Kyoshi wiggled her fingers, causing some of the water in the bowl to slosh around.

Rangi pushed Kyoshi’s hand down and held it in her own. “No, you should move as little as possible, so you don’t disturb the wound any further.” Rangi spoke with a tenderness rarely shown to anyone but those closest to her. She released her girlfriend’s hand in favor of picking up the rag, dipping it in the water and ringing it out. She took a closer look at the wound, and a new layer of concern falling over her already worried expression. She set the damp rag down on her own knees, water quickly seeping into the fabric, but Kyoshi guessed she was beyond caring about appearances at this point.

“Your wrap is all bloody. May I take it off?” Rangi looked directly into Kyoshi’s eyes for an answer.

Kyoshi almost cracked a joke, but the gentle look on her girlfriend’s face and the polite, sincere way that she asked prevented her from doing so. Instead, she nodded, but when Rangi didn’t move she tried to speak up. “Yes,” she mouthed soundlessly. She tried again. “Yes, of course,” she whispered, her voice cracking a bit.

Rangi helped her out of the sleeves of her robe and began to unwrap the bindings around Kyoshi chest. The freckled face turned to her girlfriend, slight concern printed on Rangi’s own face as she unwrapped the layers of cloth around the Avatar’s torso. The bindings loosened, which should have allowed her to breathe easier, but she felt like her breath was being stollen each time Rangi’s deft fingers grazed her skin. As layers of fabric were unraveled, a slip of paper fluttered out. With her quick reflexes, Rangi snatched it out of mid-air. 

“What’s this?” she looked at the small slip, turning it over so she could see the writing.

“Oh, uh,” Kyoshi had entirely forgotten about it. Honestly, she was a little surprised Rangi hadn’t seen it sooner, since she had placed it in her wrappings for safekeeping with the intention of easy access. Kyoshi could see her girlfriend’s eyes skimming the lines of the paper, she herself reciting the lines in her head as she read, having stooped over them for so many hours until they seemed just right.

“Rangi?” Kyoshi’s voice was an unsteady whisper, her mind reeling faster than an eelhound can run as she traced the scar marring her neck, staring at the tendrils of scar tissue climbing up the arm that remained in her lap. Rangi looked up at her questioningly, but she refused to return the gaze. “Am I really… ruining your favorite parts of me? Do you like me less because of it?”

“Kyoshi—” the Firebender barely let her finish her question, having immediately understood the reference. “Look at me.” She reached out and gently took Kyoshi’s hand away from her neck and held it in hers. Emerald eyes finally lifted to meet bronze. “It was a flirty joke I made a year ago. I’m so sorry if it’s weighing down on you, I would’ve never said it if I knew it would make you insecure. I like you, all of you, with and without your scars. It just pains me to see you hurt.”

Kyoshi opened her mouth to interject but Rangi continued, “But don’t think I don’t know what you did, Kyoshi.” Rangi looked down to Kyoshi’s wound and ran a finger lightly down the side it, careful not to touch it. The contact was feather light and did not hurt at all, but Kyoshi shivered and sucked in a breath. “Your cup was empty. _Too_ empty. Which means you bent the water. I wouldn’t think much of that, but I know what initial water healing looks like on a wound. Kyoshi—” 

“It was worse than I thought it was and I didn’t want you to worry you more, especially when you were already blaming yourself for an accident that’s absolutely not your fault. It is nowhere as bad as it looks, it doesn’t really hurt anyway. And there was a lot of blood. Oh spirits, I’ve ruined the gloves you just bought me, and this robe. It’s a whole mess.” Kyoshi turned over a shaking hand, the pads of her fingers still stained sanguine, “At least this time the blood on my hands is my own. I don’t think I could handle it if…” Kyoshi placed her hand lightly on Rangi’s side, near the scar marking the close encounter with Yun. 

“Kyoshi,” Rangi reached to grip her hands tighter, tilting her head to seek out Kyoshi’s eyes. “You aren’t ruining anything. This,” Rangi gestured to the side where there was a scar on her back, “wasn’t your fault. It isn’t your fault, Kyoshi. You shouldn’t have to keep things from me, okay?”

“Okay,” Kyoshi sniffled. She took her hand back and clasped it in her other one, trying to steady the shaking as her eyes fixated on the dark marks she left on Rangi’s robes. “I wanted to clean it up. I’m sorry, I already ruined enough. If I had more water, I would’ve cleaned the clothes too. I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m sorry I lied. I just didn’t want to upset you. I don’t want you to feel bad for something you didn’t do, not like I did to you. I’m sorry.” Kyoshi didn’t know when she started crying, but tears flowed steadily from her eyes now. “I’m sorry for trying to hide it, I was just trying to take care of it.”

“You don’t need to apologize, and that’s not the way to care for a wound! You just—” Rangi took a deep breath to steady herself. “Please take proper care of yourself. You don’t seem to understand how important you are.”

“I know, I’m the Avatar—”

“No!” Rangi’s grip closed in more forcefully around Kyoshi’s hand, and the air around them heated with the Firebender’s temper. “How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t care that you’re the Avatar!” Her voice strained with desperation. “I care about you, Kyoshi!” A flush of red began to color the Firebender’s pale cheeks. “Even back in Yokoya, back when everyone thought—,” her face scrunched up, “even when everyone thought that Yun was the Avatar, and you were doing household chores, you were important to me — you still are important to me.” 

Kyoshi had to look away from the fire of Rangi’s eyes, glowing with a beautiful ferocity like molten bronze. “Why else do you think I was so ready to go with you when you showed up in the rain that night?” the rasp in her voice cracked with the force of emotion fueling her words. “I left my mother, Kyoshi. I left my home, and everything that I had known, because I knew that if I hadn’t, I might not see you again. Because I couldn’t live with myself if I had stayed behind,” the last sentence was barely above a whisper. “I couldn’t bear to lose you,” Rangi said so softly that if the ruckus of the distant festival were any louder, Kyoshi wouldn’t have heard it. The air around them buzzed with heat and Kyoshi’s hand started to hurt in the Firebender’s scorching hold, but she said nothing about it. Honestly, she felt she deserved the pain for being so stupid.

Rangi seemed to have noticed and took a few long, measured breaths, calming herself and dissipating the flare of heat. “And Kyoshi,” she reached up to cup her girlfriend’s cheek. Her face was wet, stars glimmering in her tears like they were sprinkled on her face, turning freckles into a galaxy. “Kyoshi,” Rangi repeated in a tender voice, _“I love you.”_

Rangi’s hands left the freckled face in favor of wrapping her arms around her girlfriend so she could hide her own tears. Kyoshi closed her arms around the Firebender gently and pressed her lips to the precious raven hair. She sniffled, took a shuttering breath in through her mouth and whispered, _“I love you too.”_ She felt Rangi grip her tighter still, nuzzling her face into her chest. Kyoshi held on tighter, the girl in her arms impossibly close yet simultaneously not close enough, and Kyoshi was barely sure it wasn’t a dream. 

There is a slight pain in Kyoshi’s chest, and she would’ve assumed it was from her heart trembling with the sheer amount of love she felt in that moment, had it not been on her right side. She wanted to stay in this embrace forever, warm, and safe in the smaller woman’s arms, but she needed to finish healing herself.

“Show me how to take proper care of a wound then, Sifu Rangi.” Kyoshi smiled at Rangi as she sat back.

Rangi pulled her in for a quick kiss. It tasted of salt as the tears stained their faces, but Kyoshi didn’t mind one bit. “Of course,” Rangi smiled through teary eyes.

After Kyoshi’s wound was properly cleaned and healed, the nasty gash now just a pale scar, Rangi lead her back into the side building. Kyoshi struggled to keep her robe up as she was pulled along, carrying all her garments in one arm.

Once inside, Kyoshi finished removing her robe and folded it neatly on a chair. She also folded her chest bindings and waist cloth, placing them with her robe to be washed and patched up later, and set her fans and gloves down on the table next to them. Rangi also removed her robe, now bloodied and wet from cleaning the wound, and laid it on top of Kyoshi’s.

“Kyoshi,” Rangi breathed, sounding slightly nervous.

“Hmm?”

“There’s something I want to ask you.”

Kyoshi turned her full attention to Rangi now, curious of what she’ll say.

Rangi took the ribbon and pin out of her hair and shook it down, running her free hand through her hair. Kyoshi stared as inky strands fell free and unfurled until it laid mostly straight, save for the creases from the topknot. Her hair had grown a lot since Jianzhu had cut it, and it is almost back to the length it was when they first left Yokoya. Rangi threw the ribbon onto the chair and looked up at the taller woman. She looked anxious but determined, and Kyoshi felt her heart skip a beat.

“Kyoshi. I love you. All of you. And you make me feel so loved, I—” Rangi grabbed Kyoshi’s right hand with her free one and placed it on top of the pin she was holding in her own, “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If you’ll do me that honor—”

“Yes.”

“I wou—huh?” 

“Yes. Absolutely.” Kyoshi said more confidently than any statement she’d made since arriving at Sei’Naka. She closed her fingers around the delicate weight of the hair pin, “Rangi, I would love to live out the rest of my life with you. You make me feel so loved and appreciated, and you make me feel human. I would do anything for you. I love you so much, and I know that I will love you for as long as I live.” Kyoshi placed her hand on Rangi’s back where her scar was. It had become one of the Firebender’s few insecurities, and the feeling of the jagged crater against the rivulets of scars extending from her fingertip was like baring their souls open. Had it been anyone else, Kyoshi would’ve shied away from the strangely vulnerable and intimate feeling, but this was her shining star, her sun. “All of you.”

Rangi reached up, wrapping her arms around the taller woman’s neck, pulling her into a searing kiss. Kyoshi poured all of her unspoken emotions into the kiss and felt it returned with just as much force from Rangi. It felt like fire and ice and tidal waves all at once, a force of nature that uproots and reassures. She felt complete.

When the kiss finally broke, Rangi suddenly held up the slip of paper from before as if she had snatched it out from thin air. “So, would you like to explain this?”

Kyoshi opened her mouth, but ended up shutting it before speaking as she remembered something important. She then wordlessly patted her side, feeling in the wrap around her hips for something. “I meant to ask you on the roof, but then the whole skewer thing happened. Then I was gonna ask you on the ground, when you made the comment about the stars, but then I said something that made it sorta stupid. And of course, then you found it, and I got nervous and asked the wrong question. And then I pigchickened out of asking you when I had another a chance earlier.” She pulled out a gold hair pin with a beautiful flower design and a jade center. “And then you beat me to it. I made this for you a while ago but I just kept missing opportunities. And now I’m rambling, so,” Kyoshi held the pin in her palm, “Rangi, would you please be my wife?”

Rangi lightly punched Kyoshi’s left arm. “I proposed first, you big oaf. Of course, I will.”

Kyoshi pulled Rangi into another kiss, briefer this time, but just as intense. The Firebender carefully placed both hairpins on a nearby counter before leading her girlfriend to sit down on the edge of their bed and then nestling her side against Kyoshi’s chest, tilting her head so it fit perfectly under the taller woman’s chin. Kyoshi ran her hand over her girlfriend’s back, hesitating at the edge of the scar. Despite constant reassurances and every logic in the world, the Avatar still felt the venomous prick of guilt from the fading mark. She would have to work on that. 

Rangi brought Kyoshi’s other hand to her lips, trailing the scars from the tips of her fingers up her forearms with delicate kisses. She turned to straddle Kyoshi’s lap, rising to place the final kiss upon the scar on her neck. Kyoshi felt, more so than heard, the heated caress of Rangi’s whisper, “I think it’s time we celebrate our marriage.”

Kyoshi hummed, the vibration a purr against Rangi’s lips. “I couldn’t agree more.”

A small slip of paper fluttered to the floor, momentarily forgotten by the pair, though its words etched in their minds forever.

_For my Love:  
All the stars up there  
Beautiful, shining, guiding  
You are all my stars_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! Unfortunately this is the last chapter of this fic, however I may add more as part of a series if people want :)  
> There is also a drawing that goes with this chapter on my Tumblr, @jewelartbyjewel

**Author's Note:**

> There will be a third chapter but IDK when. Also the drawing that goes with this on my Instagram too (@_jewel_art_)  
> Also thank you to @yovodo for being my editor I appreciate you very much!


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